First Ever Grow-CFL-Two 37 Gallon Rubbermaids

Hey everyone, I posted this is the grow journal area, but I figured it'd be better suited here as it's a CFL grow. I'll give updates regularly with pictures and what not.

The seeds I have are from good stock from a friend of mine. Two of them are supposedly Sour Diesel and the other two are unamed but I'm not really sure if it truly is SD. The seeds are all from some really dank bud anyhow, so I'm hopeful that I'll get something nice out of this.

This is my first grow and I've been doing as much research as possible. I've been reading up here at RIU for a couple months but I've been shy to post.. (I don't know nearly as much as most of you guys here). If enough people show interest in this I'll make sure to update it frequently.

My Setup:
-2 - 37 Gallon Rubbermaid Bins
-4 - 42w 2700k
-2 - 26w 6500k
(I plan to switch the 26w out after veg for an addition 2 more 42w 2700k's at flower.)
-1 - Computer Fan (Exhaust)
-1 - Small Adjustable Desk Fan (Intake)
-2 - PVC Elbow Intakes
-1 - Timer
-2 - Powerstrips
-Expert Gardner's Potting Soil
-Miracle Grow Bloom Booster 15-30-15
-(I need a good veg. nute that can be found at wal-mart or home depot)
-Superthrive
-7 - Rolls of Reflective "Chrome" Duct Tape
-Some Twist Ties
-3 - Light Bulb to Electrical Socket Adapters
-3 - Light Fixture "Y" Splitters


So, I germinated these guys on 3-23-09. It only took a day and a half for the seeds to grow tails and they all sprouted within a day or two of planting. They're all planted in the regular 16oz plastic cups, I covered them in tape so none of the roots would be exposed to light.. I remember reading light on the roots is bad?

I plan to transplant them to 8"diameter pots in which they will remain for the entirety of their growth.

I plan to go out today sometime and pickup a decent temp/humidity gauge. Anyone know the whereabouts in wal-mart.. ie. Aquarium area, garden area? I'm not sure where to look.

I started using superthrive at waterings around 3/31. I stopped on 4/2 because I was afraid it might be too much. I picked up some Miracle Grow Bloom Booster 15-30-15 that I plan to use during flower but I'm still looking for some veg nutes, any suggestions?


I plan to LST all of the plants once they reach around 6" or so. I'm still not positive when I should start flowering these babies but I want to make sure I have enough room for at least 3 of them.

Well that's just the basics.. So far I think they are doing ok, sorry for the sub-par pictures, alls I have is my phone atm.

The first picture shows an overall view, I have the plants raised up so they are about 3-4 inches from the lights. The lights hang from the lid of the top Rubbermaid and are all connected to a power strip.. I'll get a picture up in my next post. The small exhaust fan is on the left, I constructed a duct on the outside of the box so no light could get in through the fan. The right side has my two intake pvc elbows and my moveable desk fan that draws air in from a vent behind it and blows it across the lights.

The 2nd picture shows the whole setup from the outside. (I cover it with a blanket and stack junk on top of it.. can't even tell what it is).

The 3rd picture just gives a better view of the side with the desk fan and pvc elbows..

The 4th is a picture of the 4 (hopefully gals) the morning of April 3. The sprouted on the 27th or 28th of March so that gives an idea of how old they are.

I had a couple other questions:

If I decide to switch from that expert gardeners potting soil to something like miracle grow organic.. Can I just use the new soil when I transplant without shocking the plant too much?

How many weeks old would be ideal to start flowering these if I want them to fit in these rubbermaids until harvest?

If there is anything you'd like to know, or reccomend, PLEASE ask or Please do tell

Thank you, and let me know how you think it's going.

looks great dude im going to build almost the exact same setup tomorrow. im excited! keep some updates coming.

Sure, if you need any help I'll let you know what I can. I bought pretty much everything at wal-mart and home depot, so its all pretty common stuff.

I actually broke one of my 42w cfls yesterday I'm gonna have to go get another and scope out the veg nutes. I also remounted the power strips with some heavy duty zip ties instead of the tape. Seems to be working out just fine.

I'll post some pics here in about a half hour when my lights kick on. Give you a little more detail at least.

dude becareful with that broken bulb that shit contains mercury!

Well, today replaced the broken 42w with a 4 pack of 26w soft whites. I'm going to rig up a couple of adjustable light fixtures to get side lighting and light to the lower bud sites once these start to grow more.

I also picked up a real nice $7 digital thermometer and hygrometer from wal-mart so I can see what my temps and humidity are REALLY like.

I'll try and post up some pics soon once I get this stuff put in.

sounds good bro looken forward to the pics.

Can you please post pictures of how you set up all the lights. I would like to make a similar setup. But im not an electrician so im a little hesitant

Yeah, I'll get some detailed pictures of the full setup if it'll help you guys out. I didn't really do a whole lot of "electrical" work aside from some plug-ins and wiring the fan. It is a pretty easy setup to build and there aren't a lot of things I'd change about it. Of course this is only my first time growing so I'm no pro or anything. I just took ideas from different builds and kind of mashed them together.

Be back in a few with a few pics

Ok, so here are a few pictures from today:

The first two pictures show the lights attached to the lid of the rubbermaid. I took a powerstrip and plugged three socket to light adapters in and then put 3 Y splitters on to each of those for the lights. I had to tape the socket to light adapters in so the lights wouldn't fall out due to the weight. I drilled holes and ran zip ties through them and fastened one at either end of the powerstrip to mount it.

The lights power strip plugs into a 24 hour timer, which is plugged into the 2nd power strip. This powerstrip is mounted on the side as you can see in picture 3. Both fans plug into this as well and it has been fastened with zip ties too. This 2nd power strip is plugged into a heavy duty grounded power cord through the back side of the top rubbermaid and this plugs directly into the wall.

Setting it up this way is ok, and neither power strip is overloaded. Make sure the power strips support more wattage than you plug into them or you could have some problems. I think these are both rated at 1200w powerstrips. Bought them both at wal-mart in a 2 pack for like 6 bucks.

I have the exhaust fan on the left side and the intake on the right (desk fan). There are two pvc elbows for intakes on the right side as well, one at the bottom of the top rubber maid and the 2nd in the center of the bottom rubbermaid.

I just got my temp/humidity gauge so I'm just now getting information on temps and such. I have a feeling it may have been warm so I made a larger hole behind the intake fan and put a hood over the outside to prevent light from getting in and i did the same with the exhaust. I have 3 more 26w cfls that I plan to incorporate as the plants grow. I'll probably put these on a couple wired clamp work lights and remove the light hoods on those. I'm not sure how I'm going to mount them though because it'll be hard to take the top off with them hanging down like that. I want to use the extra cfls for supplementary light to the bottom leaves once the plants are larger.

Let me know if you need more info

Ok quick update:

With the new temp gauge I was made aware that my temps were WAY too high, around 90-99 degrees. So I took out the tiny computer fan and put in a 115v adjustable speed fan, about 4-5" diameter. It moves way more air so we'll see how the temps turn out now. I'll get a picture of it later on. So if anyone is building something similar this, be aware that heat WILL be an issue if you don't have enough air moving in and out.

Catch you guys on the flipside

Yeah, the light does shine through unfortunately, but I throw a blanket over it and keep the ends open for exhaust intake. I'm not super worried about stealth and it is setup in my basement so during dark hours there is no light down there anyhow. I have a big dehumidifier down there that keeps the moisture around 45-50% in the basement as a whole so I'm not worried about mold or anything. I'll get a couple pictures up tomorrow with the new fan and some updates on the plants themselves hopefully.

Glad to see other people are utilizing the same builds. I've seen results from similar builds that gave quite a generous yield, so I think it's a pretty legit setup. My next step is figuring out how I'm going to do the side lighting down the road.

I'll keep you all updated

Update:

Two of my plants that are supposedly the Sour Diesel strain have been lagging behind. I noticed some yellowing and brown around the edges of the leaves and thought it may have been over or underwatering. I adjusted my watering the past few days with little improvement to the two plants and decided it may be my lighting. My lights were nearly touching the cups the plants are in so I lowered the plants from the lights about 3 inches. Hopefully my problem is heat stress and this will alleviate the problem.

I noticed that the undersides of the leaves on the one plant were a purplish-red or brown. The leaves are also harder or "crunchier" feeling than the leaves on my healthier plants. Is this due to heat? Or is this a nutrient deficiency? Or watering?

I water about once or twice a day depending on the weight of the cups and the dryness of the soil surface.

I'm not feeding them any nutes but I did use superthrive on them at one feeding a few days ago. The soil I have is the Expert Gardeners Perfect Potting Soil.

Any ideas at what might be wrong? I'll get a couple pictures to show the problem.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently for those following this, but I will have a big update later on today with pictures and all I found out I was overwatering and it was causing some problems with the plants, so I held off a few days and they look 100x healthier. I transplanted them all into their 8" pots and gave them their first watering in a few days so hopefully this will allow them to take root. I have added Alaska Fish Fertilizer and some superthrive to my watering so we'll see how it goes. At this point everything is kind of trial and error so my plants are gonna have some character if they make it to flowering. I can't believe how much more I've learned from actually growing as opposed to reading. I see the changes in the plants and how they grow and it allows me to apply everything I've read on here.

I just wanna say thanks to everyone who has contributed their knowledge to this community, it has been an amazing resource for me and I'm sure many others could say the same.

Full update in an hour or so

Update 4-10-09: 12 days from sprout:

I transplanted earlier today into the 8" pots as stated earlier. Instead of using expert gardeners mix as I used for the seedlings in their dixie cups.. I bought some Miracle Grow Organic and transplanted them into this. I hope this doesn't cause too much stress to the plants. I thought they were ready for transplant because the roots began to accumulate at the bottom of the cups and wrap around to the sides.

There is some discoloration of the leaves (I think) and I'm not exactly sure what it is. It seems to me that the plants are a little behind where they should be for being sprouted on 3-28. I did overwater them for the first week but slowed down after I realized what I was doing. Today was their first watering in 2-3 days and it was done after the transplant so I could soak the soil evenly. They show new node and leaf growth day to day but they aren't growing like some of the plants I've seen here.

The two Sour Diesel plants are lagging behind a little and one nearly died during the phase of overwatering. You'll see in the pictures below that one of the plants is missing part of the first fan leaves. The leaves were dying completely at the ends and I cut the ends off (probably a bad idea) but the plant continues to grow ever so slowly.

I feel like all of the plants should be greener and more lush, of course I could just be worrying too much seeing as it is my first time doing this. What do you guys think?

The plants with the most leaf sets are the ones my buddy calls "Thai Chron Dro" and they seem to be growing at a much faster pace.

There is a couple pictures from inside the enclosure to show how the lights sit above the plants. Another picture shows the larger fan I installed with the speed control knob for the heat issue. The other picture shows the fertilizers and nutes I've purchased; the Alaska Organic Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 and superthrive have been added to waterings today with the transplant at a reduced dose. The MG Bloom Booster is 15-30-15 and I planned to use this during flower. I have a pool ph testing kit and it says that my pH is around 7.2, is there a way I can lower this or is this sufficient for the plants? Finally there is a picture that shows the enclosure open with the lights on the lid.

Any questions, comments or input would be great! Thanks for checking this out and I'll have more updates in the near future.

Here are some more pictures... The file size is large so I can't get as many in each post

Last for the day (here is the other SD plant I thought I put it in the first post.)

i like your setup. im doing a pc grow now but really thinking about moving to a rubbermaid grow like yours. all i have around here is walmart and homedepot to so i know what your going through. it seems to me like your lights are to close to the plants...im gonna watch this one goodluck!

trippyhippy: Thanks for checking this out man. It is definitely feasable with only a wal-mart and home depot. Those are the only places around here and if all goes well it'll be proof that you don't have to spend so much cash to get an alright crop. Best of luck to you in your grow!

be more curious: Thanks for the information on watering. I think it is something a lot of new growers are unsure about and it has definitely been hard to figure out for me. I'll cut back on the watering and nutes then and see what happens.